Yarun Begum of Lewsey and Rumi Chowdhury of Beech Hill have joined the Green Party. Both stay in the Independent Alliance, so the coalition is unchanged.

Luton Borough Council has Green Party members for the first time, the party says. Cllr Yarun Begum, who represents Lewsey, and Cllr Rumi Chowdhury, who represents Beech Hill, have joined the party.

Luton Green Party announced the move on Monday 28 September. Both councillors were elected as Labour in May 2023. Both left the Labour Group in July and joined the Independent Alliance.

What changes on the council, and what does not

Very little changes in the chamber. The Green Party says their membership “will not change their membership of the Independent Alliance Group on Luton Council.”

That matters because seats on committees go to council groups, not to parties. So:

  • The Independent Alliance still has seven members. Two of them are now Green Party members.
  • The governing coalition is unchanged. It is made up of the Liberal Democrat, Independent Alliance and Conservative groups, and holds 23 of the 48 seats.
  • Cllr Chowdhury stays on the Executive. She holds the Women, Equalities and Community Safety portfolio in Cllr Amjid Ali’s Executive.
  • There is no separate Green group. The council’s political leadership page still lists no Green councillors when we checked on Tuesday.

The council’s own records agree on the dates. Cllr Begum’s councillor page shows her in the Labour Group from 5 May 2023 to 20 July 2026. Cllr Chowdhury’s councillor page shows her in the Independent Alliance Group from 21 July 2026. Both pages list their party as the Independent Alliance Group.

Bar chart of Luton Council seats by group on 29 September 2026: Labour 21, Liberal Democrat 13, Independent Alliance 7, Conservative 3, non-aligned Independent 3, Reform UK 1. Two of the Independent Alliance's seven members have joined the Green Party.
The seat numbers are unchanged by the move, because both councillors remain in the Independent Alliance. Chart by Luton Daily
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Why they say they moved

The two councillors gave their reasons in a joint statement published by the party.

On leaving Labour, they said: “We left the Labour Party because we believe it had moved away from those principles under Keir Starmer’s leadership, and we have not seen enough under Andy Burnham to convince us that the change needed is coming.”

They named Gaza as part of that. “We remain deeply concerned that Andy Burnham has stopped short of recognising the situation in Gaza as genocide, despite the enormous destruction and suffering we have witnessed,” they said.

On the Greens, they said the party “offers a political home for people who want to put their communities before party machines”. They also said the decision “is also about something bigger: where we believe the future of politics lies.”

The statement looks ahead to the next borough election. “We are already making plans to grow Green representation on Luton Borough Council at next year’s elections,” it says.

The party says both will be invited to join the Association of Green Councillors, a national support network for Green councillors in England and Wales.

How Luton’s council got here

This is the latest of several shifts in a council that has changed shape since the summer:

  • July: councillors leave the Labour Group and form the Independent Alliance, which later reaches seven members.
  • 13 August: a councillor leaves the Liberal Democrat group, and one committee seat moves to the Independent Alliance, as we reported in our committee seats story.
  • 14 September: Full Council removes Labour’s Cllr Tahmina Saleem as Leader and elects Liberal Democrat Cllr Amjid Ali, covered here.
  • 28 September: two Independent Alliance councillors join the Green Party.

What it means for you

If you live in Lewsey or Beech Hill, your councillor has not changed, and nor has how you contact them. What has changed is the party they now belong to.

Council services are not affected. Your bin collection day and council tax band stay the same.

The real test comes at the next borough election in May 2027, when every Luton seat is due to be contested. The Green Party has said it intends to stand candidates to add to the two seats it now counts.

Sources